Thursday, February 23rd, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

The ReelAbilities Film Festival brings together the community to promote awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities. ReelAbilities Film Festival showcases films, conversations and artistic programs to explore, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.

The Mini presents a selection of experimental shorts from past festivals, selected by ReelAbilites Multimedia Specialist, Jesse Byerly.

Also, join us to learn more about the upcoming festival, happening in Cincinnati from March 9-12! More info here: http://cincy.reelabilities.org/

Thursday, February 16th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Alison O’Daniel’s long-term film project The Tuba Thieves, made in the wake of tuba robberies from Los Angeles schools, elliptically connects the story of a Deaf drummer to the students, band directors, and school communities who must reconcile with missing sound following the thefts. The film is composed of portraits of music and silence in Los Angeles and beyond, and is interrupted by fictionalized re-enactments of two historic concerts: the 1952 premiere of John Cage’s 4’33”at the Maverick Concert Hall in Woodstock, NY and a 1979 punk concert hosted by Bruce Conner at The Deaf Club in San Francisco. Reversing the typical process wherein a composer responds to filmic imagery, O’Daniel commissioned musical scores by three composers (Ethan Frederick Greene, Christine Sun Kim and Steve Roden) and worked ‘backwards”, accumulating a narrative through a process of deep listening. First-hand accounts and real life details from collaborations with students, musicians, composers, and actors are continuously altering the narrative, which is filmed in segments over time, eventually forming a feature length film. The dissonant world of The Tuba Thieves is shaped and colored by sound. The aural experience is interpreted through a visual sensitivity to cinematography, framing, and camera movement, which are considered from the Deaf and hard of hearing perspective as parallel descriptions of soundtrack. The film is produced in segments, out of order and the audience slowly pieces together the larger story.

Run Time: 52 minutes.

Tuesday February 14th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

The Mini (hearts) you! Bonus screening at The Mini! (Just happens to be Feb 14th)

Sunday February 12th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Alison O’Daniel’s long-term film project The Tuba Thieves, made in the wake of tuba robberies from Los Angeles schools, elliptically connects the story of a Deaf drummer to the students, band directors, and school communities who must reconcile with missing sound following the thefts. The film is composed of portraits of music and silence in Los Angeles and beyond, and is interrupted by fictionalized re-enactments of two historic concerts: the 1952 premiere of John Cage’s 4’33”at the Maverick Concert Hall in Woodstock, NY and a 1979 punk concert hosted by Bruce Conner at The Deaf Club in San Francisco. Reversing the typical process wherein a composer responds to filmic imagery, O’Daniel commissioned musical scores by three composers (Ethan Frederick Greene, Christine Sun Kim and Steve Roden) and worked ‘backwards”, accumulating a narrative through a process of deep listening. First-hand accounts and real life details from collaborations with students, musicians, composers, and actors are continuously altering the narrative, which is filmed in segments over time, eventually forming a feature length film. The dissonant world of The Tuba Thieves is shaped and colored by sound. The aural experience is interpreted through a visual sensitivity to cinematography, framing, and camera movement, which are considered from the Deaf and hard of hearing perspective as parallel descriptions of soundtrack. The film is produced in segments, out of order and the audience slowly pieces together the larger story.

Run Time: 52 minutes.

O'Daniel will be in attendance to introduce her film.

Thursday, February 9th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Kunsthous will be presenting three short films that examine the subject of the American home.

American Homes (2010)

A collection of responses by a number of architects, designers and scholars on the history and evolution of the American home. 

23 minutes

Directed by Bernard Friedman
 

Making Carmel Place (2016)

Big cities need small apartments. Carmel Place is a pilot project initiated by NYC to come up with a prototype of a feasible micro-unit building. The film exposes the different construction phases of the highest modular building in Manhattan and the challenges the designers from nARCHITECTS faced. Will Carmel Place lead the way to the future of residential developments?

10 minutes

Directed by Antti Seppänen

One Shared House (2016)

Thirty years ago, eight women embarked on a radical experiment in urban living: they built a communal house in Central Amsterdam in which practically everything — from kitchen utensils to childcare — was shared.

The house was conceived as an alternative to expensive, single-family apartments and atomized urban lives. it also reflected decades of progressive thinking on feminism, gay rights, and collaborative living.
with co-living making a comeback, New York-based designer Irene Pereyra returned to her childhood home to learn about the story of this unusual place, and to discover what we are willing to share in our living environment on a day-to-day basis — beyond the safety of our screens.

10 minutes

Directed By Irene Pereyra

Morgen (2011, Marian Crisan, Romania/France/Hungary). Fiction. 1h 40 minutes.

Tuesday, February 7th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Presented by the Center for Film & Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati.

A thoroughly unique and darkly humorous et somehow inspiring depiction of migration in Europe, Morgen remains as compelling and insightful about the physical and moral struggles on Europe’s borders today as it was in 2011. Nelu, a man in his forties, works as a security guard in the local supermarket in Salonta, a small town on the Romanian­Hungarian border. This is the place where many undocumented emigrants try to cross, by any means possible, into Western Europe. Nelu’s monotonous existence is thrust into chaos when one morning while fishing, he encounters a Turkish man trying to cross the border. Not able to communicate verbally, the two men will somehow understand each other. Nelu takes the stranger to his farmhouse, gives him some dry clothes, food and shelter. He doesn’t really know how to help this stranger. The Turkish man gives Nelu all the money he has on him so he will help him cross the border. Eventually, Nelu takes the money and promises he will help him cross the border tomorrow, MORGEN...

Atlantiques (2009, Mati Diop, France/Senegal). Fiction. 15 minutes.

Sitting by the campfire, a boy from Dakar named Serigne tells his two friends the story of his sea voyage as a stowaway. Not only he, but everyone in his surroundings seems to be continually obsessed by the idea of trying to cross the sea. His words reverberate like a melancholy poem. A story about boys who are continually travelling: between past, present and future, between life and death, history and myth. Atlantiques won the Tiger prize for best short film at the Rotterdam Film Festival. 

Thursday, February 2nd, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Joseph Kraska is an independent creative director and video producer based in Brooklyn, NY.  His productions go under the name Babe E. and have been screened at institutions such as, The New Museum NY, The Kitchen, MOCA LA, Redcat, and on several locations with Dirty Looks NYC. 

The Mini will be presenting the first 3 episodes of his current web series Peppré Ann and Froends, as well as music videos he's produced for artists such as Macy Rodman (Lazy Girl) and Dynasty Handbag (Vague).

Lauren Gregory is a Brooklyn-based and Tennessee-raised painter, animator, and music video director. Since earning her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009, Lauren’s work has developed into oil paint stop-motion animations - moving paintings in which thick impasto strokes appear to move before the viewer’s eyes - and music videos for international acts.  Her work has shown at MoMA P.S.1, the New Museum, MOCA Los Angeles, Kunsthalle Darmstadt and at museums and film festivals around the world.

The Mini will be presenting the following work by Lauren Gregory:

Music Videos:
Elena Moon Park & Friends - "Anta Gata Doko Sa"
Toro y Moi - "Rose Quartz"
Babe E. aka Joseph Kraska - "Poppin' Bottles"

Other animations:
Wrestling Triptych
Lauren Gregory's TV
For Dolly
Quick & Easy
Rounds
Oh No
Tussle

The Messengers (Les Messagers; 2014, Hélène Crouzillat & Laetitia Tura, France). Documentary. 70 minutes. (Midwest Premier)

Tuesday, January 31st, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Presented by the Center for Film & Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati.

In recent years, more than 3,000 migrants have lost their lives each year on the borders of Europe. This film considers the fine line between life and death in the voyages taken towards Europe via Africa. The directors allow migrants to recount their stories of passage from the Sahara to Melilla, a Spanish enclave in Morocco. Where are their bodies? Where are their graves? The “messengers” are those who have survived and who say their names. The Messengers is one of the first documentary on the subject and was shot during a four­year long investigation in Northern Africa by the two directors. The film was theatrically released in France in 2015 and garnered several awards after screening at numerous festivals in Europe and Africa.

Preceded by:

Blue Sky from Pain (2016, Stephanos Mangriotis, Hyacinthe Pavlides & Laurence Pillant, Greece). 15 minutes.

Blue Sky from Pain considers the 2015 migrant and refugee crisis from the vantage point of a solitary man at a Greek migrant detention center. The directors draw on poetic voice over and stunning but stark imagery to re­tell a story with nuance and humanity that was often absent from media representations. The film has already screened at a few film festivals in Europe. 

Saturday, January 28th

Doors at 10:30 AM... Screening at 11:00 AM
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Lils + Lil’s New York International Children’s Film Festival Tour (Ages 3+), Screening + FREE Bagel Brunch (10:30 am)

KID FLIX 1 - Selected from 2016 Festival programs for our younger audience members, Kid Flix 1 features Audience Award winners!

Recommended ages 3-7
All films either in English or without dialogue.

Thursday, January 26th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

As it has since 1964, the Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour continues to deliver outstanding films from our Festival to audiences near and far, including experimental, documentary, animation, narrative and hybrid works. AAFF is dedicated to artists who embrace the moving image as an artform. It’s a rare chance to have their work screened for audiences that wouldn’t have another way to see it.

This year’s 100-minute Digital Program features nine new experimental, animated, documentary and narrative videos including Mateusz Sadowski’s Resonance, Winner of the Chris Frayne Best Animated Film Award, and Ralitsa Doncheva’s Baba Dana Talks to the Wolves, Winner of the Eileen Maitland Award for Women’s Voice. The program also features Bisonhead (Elizabeth Lo), The Mess (Peter Burr), The Perpetual Motion of My Love for You (Karen Yasinsky), Love Under Will of the Hags Long Tooth (Mica O’Herlihy), Fundir (Allison Cekala), and not even nothing can be free of ghosts (Ranier Kohlberger). -AAFF

Romanian Shorts and a conversation with award-­winning editor Letitia Stefanescu

Wednesday, January 25th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Presented by the Center for Film & Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati.

Known for its stark, minimalist portrayals of life in Eastern Europe, Romanian film industry burst onto the international scene in the mid­2000s when The Death of Mr. Lãzãrescu by Cristi Puiu won the 2005 Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival. Romanian films have been mainstays on the international festive and art house scenes ever since and have continued to corral awards at Cannes, Berlin, and other prestigious festivals. The first Romanian film to attract wide international attention was a short: Cãtãlin Mitulescu’s 2004 Trafic, which won the best short film prize at Cannes in 2004. This selection of shorts that editor Letitia Stefanescu has worked on highlights both the artistic innovation behind the Romanian new wave’s signature style and the diversity of that nation’s film industry.

A good day for a swim, Bogdan Mustata, 2008. 10 minutes. (Written by Cãtãlin Mitulescu) Golden Bear for Best Short Film, Berlinale 2008.

Draft 7, Luiza Parvu, 2011. 24 minutes.
Dying from a wound of love, Iulia Rugina, 2014.22 minutes. Best Romanian Film at Transilvania International Film Festival 2014

Ramona, Andrei Cretulescu, 2015. 24 minutes.
Canal+Award Cannes 2015, Bronze and Silver Plaque Chicago IFF, GOPO Award for best Romanian Short 2015, Best Short at Transilvania International Film Festival 2015.

Spiderman, Superman or Batman, Tudor Giurgiu, 2011. 11 minutes
European Film Award 2012 and festival awards at Aspen Shortsfest, Valladolid International Film Festval, and Manhattan Short Film Fest.

Letiția Ștefănescu graduated in 2010 from the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest, Romania. She has edited numerous award­winning documentary and fiction films. Her collaborations include Aliyah Dada (d.Oana Giurgiu), which won the Best Editing award at DocuArt Film Festival in Bucharest (2015) and Sieranevada(d.Cristi Puiu), selected in the Official Competition at Cannes in 2016 and as Romania’s nominee for best foreign language film at the 2017 Academy Awards. 

MTY-BOG Relays: Exchanges between Colombia and Mexico

Jorge Lorenzo is a filmmaker and university professor hailing from Monterrey, an industrial city with a vibrant art scene in northeastern Mexico. Jorge obtained a Fullbright scholarship to pursue a MFA degree in Exper­i­men­tal Film and Video at the San Fran­cisco Art Insti­tute in Cal­i­for­nia and assumed a faculty position at ITESM upon his return. His work has been screened at the Berlin Inter­na­tional Film Fes­ti­val (Berli­nale), the Images Fes­ti­val in Toronto, and the Exper­i­ments in Cin­ema fes­ti­val in Albu­querque, among oth­ers. Jorge comes to Cincinnati by way of Toronto where he recently undertook an Artist Residency at LIFT, one of Canada’s premier organizations fostering excellence in moving image arts. In his program for The Mini Microcinema, Jorge bridges two cities that he intimately knows and have played an integral part of his development as a filmmaker. He explains:

“I have traveled to and fro between Monterrey (Mexico) and Bogotá (Colombia) from 2007 to 2015 more or less.  This was a priceless opportunity that broaden my experience of life in Latin America in many ways and has sadly come to a sudden halt recently.  Throughout my various visits and returns I have gathered interesting experimental materials from friends and acquaintances in both countries.  Historically and conceptually speaking some films are more relevant than others; not all of them are in the best of shapes; but they are all certainly interesting evidence of other approaches to the act of filmmaking.  Moreover, the people featured in this program have definitely had a strong impact in me as a filmmaker and as an individual; it is a way of closing such a compelling chapter in my own personal life.”

Jorge Lorenzo in attendance.

TRT: 90 min

Special Flight (Vol spécial; 2011, Fernand Melgar, Switzerland). Documentary. 1h 43min

Presented by the Center for Film & Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati.

Switzerland is strict about granting asylum to foreigners: Less than 12 percent of applicants are accepted. Special Flight tells the story of the rest, who are swept into one of the country’s 28 detention centers. Frambois, established in 2004, has been criticized for its high cost and relative comfort, yet its deportation rate, 86 percent, is the highest in the country. Many of the undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers detained there have lived in Switzerland for years–20 years in the case of Ragip, a Kosovar man featured in the film–and have jobs and families. They may be locked up for as long as 18 months before being deported.

Fernand Melgar is a self-trained activist filmmaker and producer based in Switzerland. He came to Switzerland from Spain as a young child. His 2008 docmentary The Fortress won a Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival

Preceded by:

Some We Kept, Some We Threw Back (2010, Minna Rainio & Mark Roberts, Finland). Documentary. 7 minutes.

Some we kept, some we threw back draws a parallel between the migration of Finns to Minnesota in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the migration today of people from war-torn and famine-struck nations to the West. The film depicts a man in contemporary times, making preparations for a sauna in the backwoods of Northern Minnesota. As he carries out his mundane tasks — chopping wood, pumping water, lighting the sauna fire — a woman narrates a series of experiences dating from her childhood when she and her parents left Finland to start a new life in America.Through its use of a dramatized narrative, the film draws clear parallels between the experiences of immigrants and refugees arriving from Europe in the past with those traveling from further afield today.

Wild - an overview of films, videos, media installations and performances by Andy Marko (and sometimes with Robert Dyehouse).

With sound and technical assistance by Marc Governanti

"My artworks have dealt with vision, that which can be seen, directed vision and that which can only be experienced." - Andy Marko

Marko’s current practice confronts the illusion of viewer choice on Internet sites, a linchpin of the design in web-based presentations. Andy Marko is a conceptual artist who creates media art, performances, sound art and installations. He studied film theory and production, performance art, dance, music composition, theater and photography. Marko works with semantics and he chaired the City of Cincinnati's Arts Allocation Committee for four years. He was awarded an Individual Artist's Fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council for his interdisciplinary artwork. . Marko has a commercial practice, Dash Media, and has produced many documentaries and commissioned artworks. Marko earned degrees in American History (B.A.) and Film (M.F.A.).

Presidents and Elections
A Compilation of Work by The Video Data Bank

Thursday, January 5th, 2017
Doors at 7:00... Screening at 7:30
@ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

The commodification of the American presidency is examined and lampooned in Presidents and Elections, a compilation of work from the Video Data Bank collection. Interweaving humorous, disquieting, and surreal videos with actual presidential campaign ads, the program highlights the evolving role of television as the driving force of electoral politics. Using appropriated media footage, parodic performance, historical reenactment, and other tactics, the artists represented in this program subvert and disrupt the inanity/insanity of dominant political discourse with their own forms of media manipulation. (VDB)